Ale-8-One soft drink now in Georgia

And, for the past six or so years, the family behind the ginger-blended soft drink would decline. But they always told Sudderth to keep calling because one year they might change their mind, he said.

That’s what happened this year.

Under the name Southern Beverage Distributors, Sudderth has started marketing and selling Ale-8-One around the state. The drink, known commonly as Ale-8, is being sold in about 40 convenience stores and seven restaurants and the Quality Foods grocery stores, Sudderth said.

He’s preparing to meet with Publix and Kroger officials and is bullish about getting Ale-8 distributed statewide within the next six to eight months.

“We’re going to infiltrate Georgia here soon,” he said.

A Facebook fan page for the Ale-8-One Bottling Co. now has posts from Georgia residents happy to see the drink come to the Peach State.

“So the hubby and I drove to the Quality Foods in Buford and bought 3 cases of ale8's today,” wrote Tammy Lynette Miller of Douglasville.

The page has more than 16,000 fans and is full of postings that say, “Come to Orlando!” or “Come to Oregon, please!”

Ale-8-One is the second soft drink in the past couple of years to arrive in Georgia with great fanfare.

Cheerwine, the Salisbury, N.C.-based cherry-flavored soda, arrived in metro Atlanta in 2008. Anecdotal reports at the time pointed to people grabbing cases off grocery store shelves in an effort to stock up.

Sudderth, 42, fell in love with Ale-8 25 years ago during a family reunion in Kentucky. Because that was the only place he could buy the drink, he and his family would load up the back of their truck with 20 to 25 cases each time they would pay a visit.

That tradition has stuck, even though Sudderth said once he brings Ale-8 home, he has a tough time making it last.

“Last Thanksgiving, I brought home eight cases, and by Christmas time, I was out,” he said. “When we have it, we drink it until it’s gone, and then we can’t wait until we find a way to go back and get more.”

Sudderth said he will continue to run his asphalt business during the day but cherishes the opportunity to do something else.

“You know, the construction industry isn’t great right now,” he said. “I look for anywhere to make a living. My No. 1 goal is to take care of my wife and daughter.”

Sudderth will be working with a friend and his daughter’s softball coach, who recently retired from Publix at 45 and wanted something else to do.

Ale-8 was started in 1926 by G.L Wainscott and is now in its fourth generation of ownership. Sudderth describes the drink as having an all-natural ginger base that is mixed with fruit juice. It also has 32 percent less caffeine and sugar than Mountain Dew, he said.

“It’s not like it’s a ‘good-for-you’ drink,” he said. “But it’s unique.”

And he’s not competing with that one particularly large beverage company that’s based in Atlanta.

“This is Coke country, and everybody knows that,” he said. “This is not another cola. We just want to bring something that’s unique and different for them to try. The ones that like it will buy it. We think it will take off and do well.”